The newest threesome will perform Eve Ensler's acclaimed work through Jan. 5, 2003. Author Ensler will return to the show that brought her international attention Jan. 7 for the final weeks of the play, which concludes its lengthy run Jan. 26.
Rebecca Luker was most recently on The Great White Way in the acclaimed revival of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, garnering Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for her role as Marian, the librarian. This summer she starred opposite Michael Cerveris as Clara in the Kennedy Center production of Stephen Sondheim's Passion, and her other theatrical credits include roles in The Sound of Music, Show Boat, The Secret Garden and The Phantom of the Opera.
Julia Murney took part in the all-star Funny Girl concert to benefit the Actors Fund of America, where she sang the Streisand standard "People." She received a Drama Desk nomination for her work in Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, and her other theatrical credits include Crimes of the Heart, Time and Again, A Class Act, Cloud 9, Snapshots and Mata Hari. Murney recently made her solo concert debut at the Ars Nova Theatre.
A founding member of the sketch comedy group "Don't Kill Yourself," Kate Rigg's theatrical credits include roles in As You Like It, A Ringing of Doorbells, Youth and M/other/land. On screen, she has been seen in "Law and Order," "Guiding Light," "Oz," "Saturn," "Sing" and "What's New?"
* The Vagina Monologues are just that — solo contemplations on a woman's most intimate body part. Ensler interviewed 200 diverse women, including the elderly; African-Americans; and Bosnian rape victims, asking them a myriad of questions from "What do you call your vagina?" to "If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear?" The play has been celebrated for its frank approach to its subject. The show is serious, comic, political, revealing and liberating, observers have said.
Ensler first performed The Vagina Monologues at HERE in 1996. Since the play's current Off-Broadway debut, her play Necessary Targets was produced around the world (including Off-Broadway in the winter of 2002). Her latest work, The Good Body, has its eye on Broadway in 2004, Ensler has said.
Joe Mantello, who staged Love! Valour! Compassion! on Broadway, is the director of the show. Ten dollars from each The Vagina Monologues ticket goes to the V-Day Initiative, in support of women's issues. Tickets are $55. For further information on the Westside engagement, call (212) 239-6200.
* Moving in to displace Vagina Monologues in early 2003 is Daniel Stern's two-character marriage comedy, Barbra's Wedding, about how Barbra Streisand's wedding impacts her married neighbors on the star's nuptial day. Performances begin Feb. 11, 2003, under the direction of David Warren.
